Finished!!

Would you believe that the person most excited about this long awaited blog post is... my husband!! It could be that he's just so impressed with our new bathroom (he comments on how good it turned out all the time), or maybe, he's just so relieved to have completed such a massive honey-do list. In any case, he's asked me several times if I've gotten this post done, which I find quite funny since it's not like he needs to see the pictures or anything.

So, as a reminder, here is the BEFORE. It doesn't look overwhelmingly bad, but pretty bland. And you can't see that something is wrong with the floor of the cabinets (like the particle board bubbled up and then someone tried to sand it - creating unrelenting woodchips in all our toiletries).

And notice that we had carpet in the vanity area before.


And you also don't notice that the grout is messed up in the shower (which had led to some mildew damage that my dad helped us fix in the studs). If you pay attention, you will see how hard it is to see through the glass of the shower because something is messed up between the layers of the glass. And don't get me started on how the fake chrome was corroded... how does that happen?


The bathtub, I loved!! But it had plain, boring tile to match everything else.

So, drum roll please, here is the AFTER.

We painted the walls a yummy, milkshake color. Then we tiled everything. The floor and top of the shower are tiled on a diagonal. There are also mosaic tiles (which came in big squares and we cut them to make strips) making a border. There is another layer of border around the edge of the floor from strips of the big tiles laid straight.

We got a light fixture to replace our really dated "hollywood" vanity bulb fixture. And we got a new vanity cabinet that gave us each bigger drawers (our old ones were only wide enough for a hairbrush - no lie). We also added an "over the john" cabinet (to hold all the shampoo I buy on sale).

The new sink faucets actually taught me to love our dated shell sinks. It looks kind of victorian (please don't burst my bubble). I also applied a coat of turtle wax to the marble top of the counter and it's super slick and clean now (strange but true).

Oh, and the crowning glory is the shower. We added a couple inches to each side by removing the pony wall that was by the toilet and stretching the other wall closer to the window. Just a few inches added a great amount of space inside.

Kevin and my dad spent a long time perfecting the measurements for our shampoo/soap niche. We even had sample bottles laid out on the drywall. We had just enough room between the studs to get everything to fit. We also love our new double shower head (one is stationary and the other is a handheld - you can turn them on together or by themselves).

And here's the bathtub. Mostly the same, but with new tile. Checkout my $3.99 Goodwill wall sconce/greenery bargain.


I'll spare you a photo of the new toilet, but it's also a huge improvement since it doesn't have the cushion toilet seat with torn vinyl that always seemed icky.

Ah, it's so good for it all to be done!! It took us four months to complete. Caroline was funny, often remarking that we could use her shower.

We saw God's provision all throughout the process. First, God returned one of our acts of generosity with a new friend that loaned us their tile saw. Which, since tiling took several weekends longer than our plan, saved us a ton of money on rental fees. Second, we worked into the wee hours of night finishing different tiling projects on two occasions. Both times, we had exactly the right amount of that specific size/color tile. It happened with our 6x6 shower tiles and our 12x12 floor tiles. Not a single, whole tile to spare!! What a great testimony to how God provides for our exact needs. And finally, the shower door that we originally ordered at Lowe's ended up being incorrect. So, in the end we were able to order the door from another company, for less money, and including the installation. What a huge blessing and gift from God!!

Many wonder how we were able to tackle all of this, and it is totally by the grace of God, and the help of many family and friends. We learned the ropes from some friends when we remodeled our bathrooms at our old house. We are happy to pass along any lessons or tools to any of you.